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DRO-550

The DRO-550 is a new DRO that combines the advanced capabilities of the DPU-550 running OpenDRO software with the cost-effectiveness of the DRO-350 into a single board. The board is designed to fit the DRO-350 form factor and thus can leverage the existing overlay and machined enclosure. The DRO-550 offers nearly the same capabilities as the combination of the DRO-350 and DPU-550 with the addition of greatly expanded flexibility for future enhancement.

The hardware capabilities that the DRO-550 has in common with the DRO-350 + DPU-550 are:

  • 50MHz 32-bit ARM7 processor that runs the open-source OpenDRO software

  • Supports up to five Chinese (24 bit, BCD7, BIN6, and 21 bit formats) and quadrature digital scales

  • Six digit 7-segment LED display with auto-precision

  • Five mode indicator LEDs

  • Twenty-three key keypad matrix

  • USB and true RS-232 interface for programming and control

  • Dual edge finder inputs

  • Dual tachometer inputs

  • High current 5V power supply

  • JTAG debugging interface

The notable enhancements to the DRO-550 over the DRO-350 + DPU-550 are:

  • Newer surface mount technology using more available components

  • Four-layer PCB with solid ground plane to eliminate Chinese scale jitter

  • Integrated piezo buzzer for near-zero warning and key-chirp

  • Constant-current LED drivers for lower heat and flicker-free display

  • Expansion headers for generic digital I/O applications

  • Pulse-width modulated outputs for stepper motor control

  • 8-bit data and address bus header for control of graphical or text LCD displays

  • Two analog inputs (0-3.3V)

  • Two extra UART interfaces for intelligent LCD and microcontroller support

  • Headers for adding additional LEDs

  • Debug headers for I2C, SPI, and the LED display

  • Mounting holes for attaching an enhanced LED or graphical LCD display

The DRO-550 software is completely open and available via the OpenDRO project.  This will allow anyone with an interest to contribute features or fixes.  Even if you don't feel comfortable contributing, you can look at the software for more insight on how it works.  The OpenDRO software is constantly evolving with new features so check the OpenDRO product page for a complete list.